Historical Headaches Developers are bringing historic buildings back to life. GAL1T LIPKIS BECK SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS I n a country with immediate housing needs for young cou- ples and immigrants, pre- serving historic buildings might not seem like a top prior- ity. Unlike renovating ordinary \— old buildings, which requires get- ting rid of rot on the walls and re- pairing foundations, preserving a historic building in Israel in- cludes all this plus a lot of atten- tion to the original's details. Yet, despite the high cost of re- newing historic buildings and the many headaches involved, such \_, projects tend to reap higher re- (---- turns than newer buildings in the same area. Eyal Liberman, general man- Galit Lipkis Beck writes for the Jerusalem Post. ager of the Colonnade House de- velopment in Tel Aviv, says the cost of preserving and enlarging an historic building can reach up to twice the cost of building a sim- ilar-sized new building. He says construction of one square meter costs about $1,100, not including the value-added tax, about twice as much as building an apart- ment block in Hadera. Zipha International is in the process of preserving and reno- vating Colonnade House, an im- pressive building situated in the Nahalat Binyamin neighborhood, around the corner from the Carmel Market. Colonnade House was con- structed in 1925-1927. The three- story building, designed by architect Yehuda Megidovich, Tel Aviv's first town engineer, con- sists of six apartments contain- ing 28 rooms, with large balconies and mosaic floors. Zipha International plans to add a fourth floor to the original building and construct a seven- story apartment block behind it. The developers plan to restore the exterior walls but redesign the inte- rior rooms. The en- tire project will have 50 apart- ments, including studio apartments, two-room apart- ments, three-room apartments and duplex and pent- house apartments. Upon comple- tion the complex will include un- derground parking, a swimming pool, door man and laundry fa- cilities. So far, the buyers include many artists and journalists. `96 SUNFIRE COUPE '96 GRAND AM COUPE AM/FM stereo, buckets with console, power steering, power brakes, 4 wheel, ABS brakes, 2.2 liter engine. Stock #J60391 2.4 twin cam., power door locks, AM/FM stereo, buckets with console, rear defogger, ABS brakes. Stock #N60282 $11, 295' $12,395 GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $11,712* V-6, automatic, air, tilt, cruise, stereo with cassette, power windows & locks, rear defogger, rear spoiler. Stock #G60677 V-6, automatic, air, power windows & locks, tilt, cruise, AM/FM stereo, rear defog. Stock #B60521 $ 17 490 9 $6 mo. lease $265'" GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $16,569* Leather interior, rear air and heat, power windows, locks, seats and mirrors, stereo cassette, trailer package, alu- minum wheels, overhead console, deep tint. 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Stock #C06055 BOB SELLERS . $115 , 995 $$215 j r V-6, automatic, air, tilt, power mirrors, stereo cassette, 8 passenger,pulse wipers, ABS, air bag. Stock #U60970 $19,351' , V-6 engine, automatic, air, power windows/locks, tilt, pulse wipers, AM/FM stereo cassette. Stock #G61152 GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $15,121* GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $18,262* $20 995* ❑ GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $13,802* 95 STARCRAFT NEW STARCRAFT SUBURBAN 4X4 Other places where historic preservation has taken hold and pushed up housing prices in- clude the German quarter in Haifa and older sections in Ram- le and Jaffa. The Tel Aviv Municipality hopes to preserve 1,500 build- ings in the coming years. While the city is determined to go ahead with the program, progress is dependent on the building owners who, like in oth- er cities, carry all of the finan- cial burden of the renovation work. To give the developers some incentive, Tel Aviv Municipali- ty is usually flexible in approv- ing developers' requests to increase building space above the standard percentage. For ex- ample, real estate developer Al- fred Akirov is constructing a high-rise office building on Sderot Rothschild in Tel Aviv. The municipality approved his request to increase the building area on condition that the adja- cent Russian church is renovat- ed. `96 GRAND AM GT COUPE , GM OPTION BUYER'S PRICE $10,711* Neveh Tzedek and Nahalat Shiva are two historic neighbor- hoods that have undergone major face-lifts, turning unlivable envi- rons into stunning enclaves that attract the well-to-do. Tel Aviv's Neveh Tzedek neighborhood is the city's oldest quarter, with build- ings from the early 1900s. It is home to the Suzanne Dellal Theater and offers magnificently recre- ated homes which often still have as yet unrefurbished neighbors. 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